Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/78617
AARON MATTES "In order to become really good at this, you've got to have a desire to change things, develop the skills, and be willing to put in the time and practice … It's amazing what you can achieve if you put all this together." Aaron Mattes at this usually took two or three seminars and came in and studied a lot. I won't continue to permit people to keep studying with me much longer. I'm turning 70 and it's difficult to put in the hours I used to—many times I put in more than 100 hours per week. To be really good at something, I've paid a price, and many of those around me have paid a price, too. Q: When learning AIS, how can practitioners progress from first learning the methods and protocols to working more efficiently and effectively with clients? AM: It takes concentration, it takes a touch, it takes understanding that this work is different from proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation or any other thing that we like to compare it to. It's more complicated and more exacting. It's very effective, but you've got to learn it, you've got to study it, and you've got to practice it. You've got to do it over and over and you've got to do it with somebody who knows what they're doing. Seldom do you have exactness unless you get training like we're doing now through Haggquist and McNear. That will give us more "likeness" about teaching and receiving and going out to do the work. We'll have certified that they have had the training and do know the work, and even then it's difficult. You need to study it. You need to look at the anatomy and physiology. When you're talking about AIS, you need to know these things, the intricacies of the shoulder or the knee, the hip, or whatever we're talking about. We need to understand how we can make these changes based on the anatomy and how it works. Q 78 massage & bodywork september/october 2012 "